When James Camden Engineering Ltd had an issue machining some complicated aerospace parts, it turned to FANUC and its renowned ROBODRILL vertical machining centre for a solution. The Warwick based subcontractor conducted a comprehensive review of the CNC machine tool market and concluded that FANUC offered the best combination of cost, performance, precision, technology and service.
With a plant list that includes EDM, manual milling and lathes, the company was having difficulty completing certain parts and it was the expertise of the FANUC team that swung the purchasing decision. As Jordan Coles, a Tool Room Machinist at James Camden Engineering says: “We looked at lots of suppliers and their respective machines, but it was the FANUC sales engineer that was more focused upon our needs. To this end, FANUC looked at our components, the type of regular work and the quantities we produce and accordingly recommended the FANUC ROBODRILL D21MiA5 High Power Version machining centre.”
For the small subcontractor it was a paradigm shift in moving to its first CNC VMC and FANUC were only too aware of this. As Mr Coles continues: “There is often a perception, like the one we had, that VMC’s and FANUC machines in particular, are aimed at higher volume production and that FANUC is a premium brand with a higher price tag. However, FANUC blew such perceptions away and delivered a solution to our problems.”
As the first CNC machining centre for the company, the 3-axis ROBODRILL was sold as an application solution to the prototype and small batch manufacturer. “We haven’t just bought this machine for production machining; it’s been brought in for machining extremely accurate small batch parts. When we looked at the market, we wanted a super accurate machine that could work to high tolerances and would be very precise and very consistent in its performance,” continues Mr Coles.
For giving James Camden Engineering the edge from a productivity perspective, the FANUC ROBODRILL has a 30m/min feed rate and a maximum spindle speed of 10,000rpm that is derived from a 11kW spindle motor. This combination of speed and power is ideally suited to the demands of the Warwick Company. Concluding on this, Mr Coles says: “From a service perspective, we couldn’t ask for more. The sales team were attentive to our needs and understood our business and our goals. After the purchase, the application engineers have proven to be great guys that frequently pop-in to check on us and our machine; they give us regular advice and see how we are getting on. In comparison, we’ve had other machine tool vendors that sell us a machine, drop it off, do the training and we don’t hear from them again. So, the service from FANUC has genuinely been beyond all expectations.”Tel: 02476639669 Email: info@fanuc.co.uk